Application of Dalcroze pedagogy in an intercultural context: the case of Bolivia

Karen Pérez Vila (Bolivia)

Bolivia is a country located in the heart of South America. It is culturally diverse, so much so that Article 5 of the State Constitution (CPE, 2009, p. 2) recognizes thirty-six official languages. Each ethnic group has its own cultural characteristics. Common to all of them: music.

These native peoples have passed their music from generation to generation through an oral transmission mechanism in such a natural way that adults and children of multiple generations could find themselves playing a pinkillada1 or a chovena2 at town festivities without having studied these genres methodically and rigorously. Socially, this music is closely related to dance and events that occur in nature: the productive cycle of the earth, rains, harvests, etc. In the rainy season, they play whistlemouthpiece and single-reed instruments such as tarkas and mohoceños, respectively. On the other hand, in the dry season, bevel instruments3 such as sikus, a type of pan flute, are played (Paye, 2000, p. 1).

Around 19524, as a product of the search for a single national identity, the dissemination of non-Spanish cultural heritages and languages was discouraged. It should be noted that music in Bolivia comes from two main sources: pre- and post-Spaniard colonization periods5. Before colonization, the music of native cultures was predominant, with non-standard tunings for wind and percussion instruments, usage of pentatonic scales, performances in large groups, and ritual music (Rosso, 2010, p. 1). These practices have, in spite of colonization, spread in certain urban social groups through the process of métissage (Sigl and Mendoza, 2012, p. 197), as is the case of the sicureada, a musical form performed with sikus.

1 The pinkillada is a musical and dance form, typical of the Bolivian highlands, belonging to the departments of La Paz, Oruro, and Potosí. (Sigl and Mendoza 2012, p. 660) 2 The chovena is a musical and dance form, typical of eastern Bolivia or the tropical zone (Sigl and Mendoza, 2012, p. 749). 3 It is said that a musical instrument vibrates by bevel when sound is generated by the vibration of expelled or blown air as it hits a sharp, rigid edge or piece called a bevel. 4 “The Chaco War and the 1952 Revolution gave rise to revolutionary nationalism, a movement which sought to affirm the mestizo as the Bolivian national identity.” (Moreno, Vargas & Osorio, 2014, p. 47) 5 With the arrival of the Spanish, “criolla” music was invented. String, wind, and brass instruments were used to create music with half-tones, mixing it with original Bolivian music, which was called folkloric music.

Sikus and the sikuriada or sicureada

Sikus are common wind instruments from the Bolivian highlands and other South American countries, made of reed pipes of different lengths. They are handcrafted in many sizes and tunings, depending on the region where they come from, and the pipes are grouped in two rows.

In rural areas, there are many musical forms played with sikus, which follow the strict rules of each community. For example, one community may dictate that only men can play the instruments, while women do the choreography. Or that sikus only can be played during the Awti Pacha6. The community elders say that if you play an instrument that is not allowed during the Awti Pacha, the rains will come, and if you play the siku during the Jallu Pacha, the wind and frost will come, affecting the harvest.

The melodies played with sikus are played in a complementary, call-and-response way. That is, while a group or troop of musicians only plays the notes of one of the siku rows (call), the other group plays the corresponding notes to complement the melody, using the other row of tubes (response). This responds to the principle of complementarity that we find in Andean philosophy7 .

In an urban situation, we find three sizes of the siku: the zanca, which is the largest and the lowest in pitch; the malta, medium; and the chulis, the small one with the highest pitch. The tubes are grouped in two rows and are arranged in thirds, one next to the other, forming a natural minor scale between the two rows. Women in the city can also be part of the group of musicians, unlike in a traditional rural situation. In urban centers, the sicureada is also played in a call-and-response manner, but in contrast to traditional rules, it can be performed at any time of the year. (Sigl, 2012)

6 Awti Pacha means “dry season,” a time with no rain between

September and December. Jallu Pacha, “rain season,” occurs between

December and March and is considered time of fertility and abundance (van den Berg, 2005).

7 The principles of the Andean philosophy are reciprocity, which is the mutual provision of services or exchange of goods; correspondence, by which one must always return favors received from others or the community; and finally, complementarity, which preaches that opposites should not fight each other but complement each other. They are opposites, but not rivals (Campohermoso and Soliz, 2015). Music education in Bolivia today

One aim of the National Education Programs in Bolivia (Ministerio de Educación de Bolivia, 2014, p. 17), a current program, is to teach ancestral cultures at schools, but the program does not provide pedagogical resources to meet its objective. That is why teachers have adapted methods such as figured notation, imitation and repetition, and others to teach native instruments and native musical forms.

The Bolivian curriculum for music education could be improved in the sequencing of content and the content itself by including Western music theory, as well as the native music of Bolivia.

In the last year, the education system suffered despite efforts, because it was not possible to replicate live classes over the internet, especially in areas of Bolivia that have suboptimal connectivity.

First assessable Dalcroze experience in La Paz, Bolivia

In Bolivia, there is no training center for Dalcroze Education, but as a student at the Dalcroze School of the Rockies, I have been applying the tools learned during the last year with students from first to sixth grade at the Utasawa School in La Paz, Bolivia, where I teach music.

In addition to regular classes, the Utasawa School has a Rhythm Club, which comprises six children between ten and twelve years old. It is with this group that we took on the challenge of a thorough Dalcrozian experience.

I chose to teach the sicureada to the children of the Rhythmic Club. Of these children, born in an urban environment, only one had a history of having been in direct contact with the sicureada. Before starting Dalcroze classes, five of the children did not know the form or structure of the sicureada, and had not played a siku before. But they all had experience moving, walking, and clapping rhythms, which had been taught in regular music classes.

The sicureada is characterized by the abundance of syncopations, rhythmic cells derived from the cuartina8 , a natural minor scale, and a circular or rotating form: ABABAB (repeated). A group of six to sixteen musicians are guided by a leader playing the bombo, a percussion instrument. This leader decides when to end the sicureada. He starts to accelerate the tempo, and the rest of the group knows immediately that the next set will be the last.

8 In many Spanish-speaking countries, the cuartina is known as a group of four rhythmic notes—eighth or sixteenth notes—and its rhythmic derivations are the gallop, inverted gallop, syncopation, and skip.

The sicureada is played in a call-and-response fashion, where chulis, maltas, and zancas call and the other chulis, maltas, and zancas respond. The malta, the medium-sized siku, is used to best fit the average lung capacity of children this age.

For cultural context, the teacher spoke about the history of the instrument and its playing technique, its relationship with the cycles of the earth, and other characteristics of the sicureada.

On the practical side, the teacher taught four sessions at ninety minutes apiece. Each lesson included fifteen minutes of warming up, with improvised movement, shallow and deep breathing, and relaxation accompanied by recorded music or improvised music on the piano or guitar. Movements were first modeled by the teacher, then the children took turns modeling their own movements.

Complementary rhythm games were used to teach the rhythms of the sicureada. Initially, phrases were played and sung only in eighth notes. The first note was played in a low register and the second one in a high register. Students had to walk the first eighth note and clap the second one, which would correspond to an association strategy, understood as “two or more elements that are exactly the same occur at the same time” (Dittus, 2018, p. 37). In this case, the low note is played and a step is taken at the same time, and after, the high note corresponds with the clap.

Afterward, the teacher improvised phrases using the cuartina (four sixteenths) and its derivatives, which are rhythmic figures quite common in the musical lexicon. Improvised melodies were played to the rhythm of the song. Students proceeded to walk the rhythms, alternating steps with gestures in the air, claps, or pencil strokes. Rhythmic words related to sounds were also used: ligerito for the cuartina, péscame for the galopa, detengo for the síncopa, and ya me fui for the salto inverso. This was especially useful for generating movements. Every two phrases, rhythmic cells changed, and students had to change their movements accordingly. This showed the active listening that they were practicing at that time.

During this experience, it could be seen that little by little, the children were learning the material, feeling more and more comfortable and relaxed and, at the end, fearlessly proposing movements or variations of the proposed exercises.

After each exercise, the children were asked about their feelings. They described joy and difficulty with changing from one rhythmic cell to the other, and that repetition helped them practice.

Finally, the rhythm of the chosen song, “Muchachita, flor hermosa”, a typical song from the Andean Highlands, was used as an exercise for complementary rhythm. Students had to walk and clap while saying the rhythmic words too. In the next step, they had to say a funny phrase that included their names, which made the exercise more dynamic.

The experiential activity was transferred to the board, where the children understood and were able to write the movement dictation of cuartina derivatives. In case of any doubt, the movements were repeated with some variation, and then returned to the board. An other exercise was the piano dictation.

After having concluded that stage, the teacher switched to wind instruments. The melody of both rows was recorded separately by the teacher and sent to the children. This was done, obviously, due to the audio delay in the virtual class. If it had been in-person classes, the children would have been divided into two groups, one of which would play the top row and the other, the bottom row. With recorded audio, if they wanted to play the top row, they had to listen to the audio from the bottom row, and if they wanted to play the bottom row, they listened to the audio from the top row. The goal, either way, was to feel the call and response.

PHOTO: Nayra Cardozo

Results

The children involved in this experience learned the rhythm of the sicureada. At the end of the experience they recorded two videos, with one group playing the upper row of tubes and the other one playing the lower row. The group overall was excited about learning something new and especially about the way this activity was carried out.

Space was a limitation for doing more and varied exercises, but the children adapted very well to the activity.

The exercises were very simple because of the experience of the teacher, but the students learned about the sicureada, felt the syncopated rhythm with their bodies, got experience playing the siku, and had fun while doing it.

Conclusions

Dalcroze pedagogy was utilized in a satisfactory way to teach the sicureada, a traditional musical form of the highlands of Bolivia, not only by providing the group of children the musical tools for the performance, but also teaching it in a such fun way that they felt happy to learn it, thus bringing this urban group closer to other cultures such as Quechua and Aymara.

While piano is the Dalcroze instrument of choice because of its wide range of pitches, textures, and colors, it was not essential in this project. Voice and guitar were used successfully. Perhaps, in the future, it will be possible to experiment with the variety of native instruments in Bolivia.

Teacher training is especially important. It will be advantageous to get more Dalcroze educators to Bolivia, as well as more training centers. References

Berg, Hans van den (1990). “La tierra no da así no más” (3a. ed.). La Paz: HISBOL, 2005

Campohermoso Rodríguez, Omar Félix, Soliz Soliz, Ruddy, & Campohermoso Rodríguez, Omar. (2015). Lógica Aimara Trivalente Y Cosmovisión Andina. Cuadernos Hospital de Clínicas, 56(2), 89-97. Recuperado en 23 de abril de 2021, de http://www.scielo.org.bo/scielo.php?script=sci_ arttext&pid=S1652-67762015000200019

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Moreno Daniel, Vargas Gonzalo, Osorio Daniela (2014) Nación, diversidad e identidad en el Estado Plurinacional.

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Rosso Orosco, Carlos. (2010). “Panorama de la música en Bolivia. Una primera aproximación”. Revista Ciencia y Cultura, (24), 153-173. Recuperado en 08 de octubre de 2021, available in: http://www.scielo. org.bo/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S207733232010000100010&lng=es&tlng=es.

Sigl, Evelin y Mendoza Salazar David. “No se baila así no más. Danzas de Bolivia” Tomo II. (1ra. Ed.), 2012

Karen Pérez Vila

Karen Pérez Vila was born in Oruro, Bolivia. She is a physician and holds a bachelor’s degree in music and a diploma in ethnomusicology and folklore. She plays the charango, a Bolivian native instrument. She also plays the piano and guitar at an intermediate level. She serves as a music teacher at the Utasawa School in La Paz, Bolivia, with children from six to twelve years old. She runs the Early Music Education Center “Música para Crecer” in the cities of Oruro and La Paz. She has been training at the Dalcroze School of the Rockies since 2019.